Coming to Stores: March 5th Edition

It’s hard to be excited about upcoming games after a serious sitting in the war room with our strategy guru Tony Odett in March of the Eagles. I mean, deep down I can’t wait to play the new Tomb Raider, but all I can think about is marching across Europe as France, but fearing the wrath of Russia when their agenda clears up and they have room to take me on. That said, it is now March and this month will be Hell on everyone’s wallet. This week alone I would need to spend almost $200 on games and hope to actually have time to play them. All I want to do right now is get back to destroying Prussia. Oh well. *sighs* ~ Don

Please note dates are subject to change, and these do not account for digital releases, which can sometimes be as important as retail releases. DLC is highlighted in blue. Digital releases (excluding PC-only titles) are highlighted in green.

Arguably the biggest release this week, possibly month, is Tomb Raider (Editor’s Note: Ahem… Bioshock would like a word with you).Heroine Lara Croft is booted into a more realistic world and hopes to stay out of the shadow of the Sony exclusive that took her formula and improved upon it greatly. This game serves as a reboot to the Tomb Raider series, showing a different take on the early years of Ms. Croft. Look for our review in the coming week.

On the opposite spectrum of things is Simcity. This is a franchise I grew up with, my grandpa teaching me how to play the original Simcity when I was young. I since have fallen out of the franchise, feeling the games are just too robust for me to enjoy. Especially when they added water lines to everything. This new Simcity though, has gotten my interest with the social aspect of the game. Working together with neighboring cities sounds like just the kind of thing to get me back into a series I grew up loving.

There was a PSN game that I fell in love with called Crash Commando. It was a multiplayer, side-scrolling game that was as intense as Call of Duty and just as competitive. Paradox Interactive is releasing a similar game, The Showdown Effect,and I expect the same sort of thing. However, it’s hook is cliche, over-the-top iconic characterizations from old action movies. You can also level up through a progression system to customize your character and weapons.

The Vita and PS3 both get their yearly dose of MLB with MLB 13: The Show, boasting new game modes, a revamped Road to the Show mode, and more. You can also save your game on the PS3 and take it on the go on your Vita, which is a pretty neat feature if you intend on owning it on both systems.

The sequel to the last 3D Castlevania game, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, is coming to the 3DS, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirrors of Fate.I was personally hoping for a 2D only game like past DS installments, but alas. I have not enjoyed any of the 3D Castlevania games, though I had an odd love for Castlevania 64. I couldn’t stand the camera in Lords of Shadow, however, it had a very passionate following so I am not surprised to see this one. This game in particular is a 2D/3D hybrid, blending elements of the two. In that regard, I may enjoy it more than a full-on 3D Castlevania game, but we’ll have to wait and see. Look for Vagary’s review in the coming week or so.

Are you picking anything up this week? Still trying to make it through your backlog? Let us know in the comments below!

Starting out as a founding member of Gamingcore Podcast, Don ventured on to start Gameciety; which began as a podcast, and ended as a blog. Don now handles Vagary.tv's PR work, is part of the reviews staff and has various other little projects he does for the site.

http://twitter.com/JerWG Jeremy W. Goodson

With the early Tomb Raider reviews coming in, and all appearing to be really good, I’m actually kind of excited to try it now. Very curious to see if it stands up to the hype that’s building, and hope that it’s not all just crafty PR work.

Chris Scott

I’ve already got Castlevania, I’ll be picking up Tomb Raider this evening and SimCity should show up in the mail Thursday. I’m going to be busy.

http://vagary.tv Don Parsons

Holy wow! D:

http://vagary.tv Don Parsons

I’ve spent about 3-4 hours with it, and I don’t think it’s all crafty Pr work.